It is often desirable for a player of a ball sport, such as golf, to record statistical information about their performance. Traditionally, golfers have recorded rudimentary information on score cards, but it has been very difficult to record in depth information such as the precise location where a shot was taken or the club that was used. Recently, the prevalence of portable devices such as smartphones has allowed additional information to be recorded on a digital scorecard. However, current solutions require the player to manually enter data into an electronic device or onto a piece of paper. Both actions interrupt the natural flow of a round of golf.
During a professional golfing tour, a system such as Shot Link (PGA Tour Inc.) may be used, in which a large number of volunteers manually record information on a golfer's performance. This involves the volunteers entering information on shots taken, as well as using laser distance measures at fixed locations to triangulate the current position of the golfer's ball. The whole system is supported by a network of computers and data processors. Whilst this gives a high level of positional accuracy, and other manually entered information, it does not scale to provide feedback to the individual golfer.
The Game Golf (Active Mind Technology, Inc.) product utilises a device that is clipped to a golfer's belt, and a number of RFID tags that are attached to each of the golfer's clubs. Before taking a shot, the golfer holds the tag on the club against the belt device until the belt device vibrates, letting the golfer know that the club has been detected. The system then records a shot as having taken place at that location, with that particular club. Should the golfer subsequently change their mind about which club to use, they must either record two shots or manually change the data after the game. Since the tagging of shots is a manual event, it is easy for a golfer to forget to do it, in which case some shots may not be logged. Furthermore, the act of manually tagging each shot still disrupts the flow of the game.
Additionally, such systems are highly specific to golf, and do not generalise to other sports which involve contact with a ball either with or without equipment such as a club, bat or racquet. In these sports, information such as the timing, number and location of shots taken by a player may be very useful.
It is an object of at least one embodiment of the present invention to provide an improved or alternative system for monitoring the performance of a player in a ball sport.